The National Library of Wales has ghosts - but not the scary kind. These ghosts are images, seen only by using ultraviolet lighting, in the 750-year-old Black Book of Carmarthen, "the first Welsh text to include medieval figures such as King Arthur and Merlin," and the images are doodles and poetry added throughout the ages. (photos)

To mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death, The Folder Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., is sending out a traveling exhibit with copies of the first printing ("First Folio") of Shakespeare's plays from 1623.

While excavating by the Thames River, a team of archaeologists from the Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA) recently discovered a rare, metal devotional, dating to the 14th century, depicting "the capture, trial and execution of Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, political rebel turned martyr." (photos)

The construction of a new vault for the Magna Carta at Lincoln Castle led to the discovery of a unique goose bone flute dating to Norman times. While the flute was broken, a re-enactor muscian has created two replicas, one for display with the broken original and another to play. (photos)

A team of archaeologists from the University of Aberdeen are investigating a remote sea stack off the coast of Aberdeenshire, Scotland, to learn if it hosts the remains of a "very significant" Pictish fort. Excavations have so far uncovered what is believed to be "the remains of a house, a fireplace and ramparts."

SCAtoday.net will be offline for approximately two hours, beginning around 8:30 p.m. US Eastern (GMT-5:00) on Sunday, November 29. During the outage we will be making changes to the virtual server hardware. (Update: This work has been completed. Thank you for your patience.)

Dr Christina Lee of the University of Nottingham may have made an astonishing discovery: an effective treatment for "Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) which is one of the most antibiotic-resistant bugs costing modern health services billions." Dr. Lee, however, is not a scientist but an Anglo-Saxon expert from the School of English, who found the cure in a 10th century medical book. (videos)

Bavarian composer Petrus Alamire was a man of many talents including, possibly, a spy. Last year, his choral work, composed for Henry VIII, came in at number 2 on the classical music charts with an album by the choral group Alamire. (photos)

A team of archaeologists has discovered early Norse artifacts in Canada and its Arctic islands, including what it believes is a stone crucible, with traces of bronze inside, used for metalworking. (photo)

Researchers from the Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties are studying a series of square holes they believe may have held the foundation for an important building in Fujiwara-kyo, the nation's capital between 694 and 710.

I write to report the happy news that on Friday at Crown tourney their Majesties Thorvaldr and Timoe invited Lady Ailitha de Ainwyk to sit her vigil to consider joining the order of the Laurel, and asked for her reply at court the next day.

An article on Myths Retold considers the question of what "chivalry" meant in the Middle Ages, metaphorically and linguistically, and how that relates to modern concepts of chivalry. [PG-13 due to language]

The Friends of Hyde Abbey Garden are not keen on the idea of archaeologists digging up the garden in search of the remains of King Alfred the Great. The garden was established in 2003 above the site in Winchester, England, believed to be the grave of the king.

A team of experts from the University of Oslo, led by Erika Hagelberg, has recently published its research in The Royal Society Philosophical Transactions B showing that "women played a significant role in Viking migrations." Their findings were made by comparing ancient Norse and Icelandic mitochondrial DNA with mitochondrial DNA of modern Northwestern Europeans.

Medieval chess pieces have been found in various digs throughout Great Britain, but for the first time, archaeologists have discovered a workshop where such game pieces were made. The discovery was made by a team from the Museum of London Archaeology at the Angel Street excavation in Northampton. (photos)

“I cleaned it off and realised it was carved. It looked like some of the things you see round here in museums so I contacted a museum and the archaeologists got very excited," said John Wyatt about a moss-covered stone slab he purchased for a garden project. (photo)

A geophysical survey carried out by students and archaeologists from the University of Southampton has mapped, for the first time, the layout of historic site of Old Sarum near Salisbury, England, from its origins in the Iron Age to its decline in the 13th century, concentrating heavily on the prosperous medieval town. (photo)

Each year in April, Medieval Mdina returns to Malta to offer a variety of entertainments, "from battles and skirmishes to sword fights, live music, falconry displays and historic re-enactments." A number of groups participate, as detailed in a feature story from The Times of Malta. (photos)

For over 20 years, archaeologists from Preservation Virginia have been working to find out how settlers lived and worked around the 1607 fort at Jamestown, Virginia. Recently, the team has concentrated on a pit or cellar built adjacent to the wall of the fort. (photos)

"Ranvaick a kistu thasa" or in English, "Ranvaik (a female name) owns this casket" reads a runic inscription on the base of a jeweled, Irish reliquary on display in the Danish National Museum. While the casket dates to the 8th century, the inscription was added two centuries later, demonstrating one small effect of Viking raids. (photo)

In 2012, archaeologists discovered the remains of 27 Anglo-Saxon warriors and their grave goods at Barrow Clump in Salisbury, England. Recently experts used an army field hospital x-ray machine to examine a 6th century sword found at the site. (photos)

Archaeologists working on the site of road construction in the Hague, Netherlands were surprised to discover a treasure hoard in a Roman pot. The extent of the treasure was revealed recently at the annual De Reuvensdagen archaeological conference. (photo)

The first of a set of cryptograms from Pennsic has been solved. Lord Orlando dei Medici (East) successfully deciphered one of the puzzles to reveal a quote from Cynthia's Revels by the Elizabethan playwright Ben Jonson.